


Absolutely Devoted

by MyEnglishRose



Series: Absolutely Yours [2]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Cuddly Louis Tomlinson, Domestic Boyfriends, Domestic Fluff, Dorks in Love, Established Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson, Established Relationship, Fluff and Humor, Fluff without Plot, Harry Styles Calls Louis Tomlinson Pet Names, Hiking, Humor, Idiots in Love, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Non-Explicit Sex, Pets, Picnics, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, those are my favourite tags ok
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-12 13:02:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29260923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyEnglishRose/pseuds/MyEnglishRose
Summary: Butboyfriendhad started to sound… obsolete, could be the word perhaps. Harry had started to refer to Louis as his partner for a while in his head but even that did not feel completely right either. His other half? The love of his life? Those were equally true, though a little long. And then Liam and Zayn’s wedding happened and it hit him. He wants Louis to be hishusband.So he bought a ring.Or. Harry wants to propose. Princess, Clifford and their new kitten make it way harder than it should be.
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson
Series: Absolutely Yours [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2148771
Comments: 16
Kudos: 98





	Absolutely Devoted

**Author's Note:**

> this sequel was absolutely (hah) not planned but in the middle of writing my [merlin/fantasy au](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28393344) I suddenly felt the need to write some sickeningly sweet fluff and I did miss writing about this little family... so here we go! You don't need to read the first part to understand this one but I do reference it a bit here since this is in harry's pov instead of Louis'. I originally wanted to finish this for Valentine's Day but evidently, it did not go as planned, planning gifts kinda took over my free time along with uni haha. I am stupidly proud of how fast, for once, I've written something, though.
> 
> [Tumblr post](https://lwtisloved.tumblr.com/post/643571502804090880/absolutely-devoted-78k-by-myenglishrose-sequel) | [Twitter post](https://twitter.com/darlinlou/status/1362824332540604419?s=20)  
> Follow me on there? it's a fun time x
> 
> And of course a beautiful artwork by the lovely [bene](http://twitter.com/youreyesonlarry) too!!
> 
> Good reading!

∘◦ ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐶ … ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐶ … ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐶ ◦∘

Louis has grown obsessed with the new kitten — well, cat, now, though Louis refuses to call him anything but a kitten. It has been three years since he rescued this orange tabby from the street and although the animal is now considered full-grown, he remained fairly small compared to Princess who towers over him and could hide him under her fluffy tail with no issue. It is even more apparent next to Clifford who barely even reacts when Biscuit jumps on him and tries to catch his tail.

Oh, yes. They called him Biscuit.

Louis named him, obviously, and Harry had no objection to it especially when they later realised Biscuit… loved biscuits as well — making them on Louis’ tummy, specifically, or well, sneaking a bite of one whenever Louis and he are having their afternoon tea. Now the irony of it all is that Biscuit seems to favour Harry more despite Louis’ affections meanwhile Princess, despite the fact Harry raised her alone for a while, refuses to leave Louis’ side if she doesn’t have to.

Neither cares, really.

Life as it is seems perfect, Harry reckons, yet he feels like he can make it even better. He just needs a plan first.

“How about we go hiking soon?” Harry suggests one day as they are lounging in the living room, watching Princess groom Biscuit on the coffee table in front of them. “I think Biscuit is ready for a more daring adventure than a simple London park and I have not taken Princess on a hike in a while.”

Louis hums next to him as he snuggles ever so closer. “You think Niall is ready to handle the restaurant on his own now?”

“No, but Mitch will keep an eye on him.” He grins when Louis lets out an ungraceful snort.

“You really make it sound like you hired more people just to babysit Niall.”

“Well, it isn’t untrue,” he quips as he scoops Louis in his arms, bringing him closer to his front again and smiling when the smaller man giggles as his hands brush his sides. “You did not reply, you think you can get a week of break let’s say around mid-May?”

“I can take a break any time,” Louis answers as he positions himself more comfortably on Harry’s laps. “Can _you_? Haven’t you just opened another location?”

He has, and it was the most exciting thing he has done in a while — apart from, you know, _doing Louis_. For some reason, the editor seems to have heard him because Louis suddenly pinches his thigh and he yelps, loud enough for Princess to suddenly stop her grooming and stare at him as if he had personally offended her.

“You’re thinking out loud again,” Louis huffs as he pats his laps while looking at Biscuit who then quickly jumps on the couch and then in the pocket of Louis’ hoodie, Princess following closely behind, purring her way into Louis’ laps.

Clifford is sleeping in front of the fireplace although his tail is wagging slowly on the floor so perhaps he is not really sleeping after all.

“You can hardly blame me,” Harry whispers into Louis’ ear as he wraps his arms around him, careful to not hit the cats now. “I am always thinking about you.”

“Mmm,” Louis sounds amused as he leans into the touch. “You didn’t answer my question.”

Harry sighs, exaggerating an eye-roll and getting a small pinch on his thigh as retaliation. “I have all the papers sorted out, everything is good, though I can’t believe this is happening really, I really owe Zayn a lot.”

Louis huffs. “Hey, I was the one who dragged his ass to your restaurant.”

Harry rolls his eyes but nuzzles his cheek, making the small pout disappear. “I know, I know kitten. Liam should be done designing the interior by April so I thought a small hiking trip could be an award of some sort. The hardest part is over, really.”

“M’kay,” Louis mumbles, sounding sleepy now. He tends to fall asleep fairly easily “Okay.”

Harry kisses his temple

∘◦ ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐶ … ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐶ … ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐶ ◦∘

He had the idea after Liam and Zayn’s wedding. _Idea_ is a big word, one does not think of marriage out of the blue as if the thought never occurred on their mind, but you get the gist. It isn’t like Harry never thought of properly settling down with someone before, quite the contrary, ever since he was a young lad he’s dreamed about a domestic future in which he would get to come home to that same person, being able to cook for them and see their face light up with glee as they taste every ounce of love he pours into his cooking.

And after a while, Harry realised — he already has that life now, just not officially. Every evening he comes back from work to Louis and the animals and gets a welcome back kiss. Every night he has no trouble cooking again for the both of them despite having done that all day. In the morning, Louis makes _him_ a lunchbox, insisting that he needs to take a break and should enjoy others’ cooking even if it isn’t the best — to which Harry always refutes and assures his boyfriend that his affectionate lunches are the best part of his days and he boasts about the cute packaging to his staff every single day.

But _boyfriend_ had started to sound… obsolete, could be the word perhaps. Harry had started to refer to Louis as his _partner_ for a while in his head but even that did not feel completely right either. His other half? The love of his life? Those were equally true, though a little long. And then Liam and Zayn’s wedding happened and it _hit_ him. He wants Louis to be his _husband_.

So he bought a ring.

Harry knows Louis isn’t much of a jewellery type of guy and that if he proposed with a paper ring, the smaller man would probably still say yes in a heartbeat. He is a romantic with a soft heart, however, and Harry wants to do something a little more special while they are away from everything else. Just the two of them, and their pets. Just their _family_.

“So everything is good you reckon?” Liam asks as he looks around the newly painted room.

“I have the menu planned for the picnic and the ring, yes,” Harry answers and then frowns when he does not get any response in return so he finally turns his head to face his friend.

Liam is looking at him with a smile and a raised eyebrow. “I was talking about the room, actually, but glad to know your plan to propose is also going well.”

That seems to snap Harry out of his daydream as he shakes his head and finally takes a look around. They are at the location for his new restaurant, something he still cannot grasp his head around, really. He wanted to recreate the same natural ambience that the first _Smitten_ restaurant has, small and cosy, so he enlisted Liam’s help to help repaint and design the interior. Harry is not much of an interior designer himself though he tries — his small fights with Louis about which furniture they should buy is proof enough of that — and when he bought the first restaurant, almost everything was already there for him to use and he only started changing some elements of decor and such once he met Louis and Liam.

The location is almost on the opposite side of London, and as much as Princess is the mascot of the first restaurant, he intends to make this one more to Biscuit's image.

He loves his cats, sue him.

“The room looks sick too,” he says at last and Liam is still smiling smugly.

“We can talk about your proposal plan if you’d rather, honestly, I don’t mind,” the man chuckles. “Louis is completely clueless if you worry about that.”

Harry squints his eyes at that. He has not told many people about his plans although he figures many have guessed. So far, his mother, Louis’ mother Niall and Liam are the only ones informed — and perhaps Harry let it slip out to Mitch when he asked the latter to keep an eye on the restaurant while he will be gone for a few days or so. Liam actually took a little offence when Harry told him about his plans which was basically implying Zayn is closer to Louis thus more susceptible to let the secret out.

Harry turned things around by telling Liam he is simply more trustworthy with secrets than Zayn is. Although in reality, Harry is not really that confident in that statement considering Zayn is a lot quieter… except around Louis. So perhaps he still has a point, actually.

Anyway.

The thing is, he had other plans to propose before, three to be exact, and they all fell short because of each of their pets, go figure. It almost felt like they all concerted to test his patience, really, Princess and Clifford especially.

The first time was when he first bought the ring. To be fair, he had been reckless about it. He had left the ring on the table as he went to make himself a cup of coffee to calm his nerves — which, admittedly, he should have learned long ago drinking coffee did the exact opposite, he is just addicted — and when he came back to the living room the box was magically gone and by the time Louis came back home he did not manage to find it again. He had a downright breakdown and when Louis asked what was wrong and tried to soothe him, Harry had to invent some kind of issue with his restaurant — it led to a lovely moment in the bathtub but he still felt bad about lying afterwards.

Then the next morning he found Princess burying the ring within the pile of toys they have for Clifford and fought quite the battle when Harry tried to get it back. He thinks it was the first time he actually heard her hiss at him with actual intent without him trying to get her into some kind of costume. He felt pretty betrayed, to say the least.

He gathered it must have been a sign that he needed more of a thought-out plan — and also a sign that he needs to stop leaving things unattended with Princess around —, so he enlisted Clifford’s help for the next attempt, hoping to recreate the way he asked Louis to officially be his boyfriend as well, just better executed now that the dog is more familiar with him than three years ago, obviously. Louis had been away for a few days on a business trip with Zayn and Princess was surprisingly cooperative as she let Harry put a blue bow on her. Biscuit likes wearing cute clothes a lot more so it was easier to put him in a sort of tiny cream sweater that matches one of Louis’. As for Clifford, well, Harry could have technically dressed him up too but… it was mostly out of laziness he did not since the big dog is a nightmare to keep in place if Louis is not around.

Of course, the plan was, again, to prepare a dinner to welcome Louis back, with Princess and Biscuit sitting nearby as well, and have Clifford walk in just before dessert with a piece of paper on which “Will you marry daddy?” was written — very cheesy, Harry has to admit, but he loves cheesy and he knows Louis secretly loves it too, given the number of videos like these the man has shown him.

Clifford ended up tearing the paper to pieces instead and then did it every time Harry handed him a new one as if it were a game of some sort for him. Harry got so distracted — it was a little amusing after all — that Louis came back home before he even finished preparing dinner. Louis did ask why Princess and Biscuit were dressed up and Harry made up a lie about his mother wanting an updated picture of them.

“And not of my Clifford?” Louis had exclaimed dramatically as he squatted down to pet affectionately his dog whose tail was wagging into another dimension. “I thought a grandmother was not supposed to choose a favourite child!” _God_ Harry really loves his fucking drama queen.

The third time, he wanted to propose during one of their morning walks. He was clutching the box firmly in his pocket as he held onto Princess’ and Biscuit’s double leash while Louis was walking ahead with Clifford by his side. Everything was going particularly smoothly, actually, it was the beginning of spring just like their first meeting, the sky was a lovely rosy colour as the sun was only starting to rise. There was no one else around like he knew Louis would prefer as he never liked having the spotlight on him, you could only hear the gentle breeze shake the leaves, their footsteps on the slightly wet grass from the rain of the day before and a few birds making their presence known. They were nearing the familiar bridge they first met on when Harry stopped walking and was about to call Louis’ name… but then a bird landed on the parapet and Biscuit suddenly went crazy and tried to jump up to catch it but the small cat, as graceful as Harry is, missed completely and almost jumped over the bridge if it wasn’t for Louis turning around at the right moment and catching him before it happened.

Needless to say, they avoided the bridge for a few weeks while they taught Biscuit to not chase wild animals and stay by their side at all time.

It has been two months, now, since his last attempt.

He briefly wondered if he had to ask one of their friends to look after the animals for an evening or two, it would make it easier, but also more predictable, really. He knows Louis would suspect something as they only leave their pets to Zayn and Liam — and very occasionally Niall — when they, well, want to _fuck_ , to put it bluntly, since the three animals remain extremely clingy and they did not want to repeat the incident of Clifford literally breaking a door.

Now, leaving their pets to their friend but then ask Louis on a date at a restaurant or any other location? Louis would know immediately what would await him.

It is not like it is a surprise really either, Harry muses again, after all, the first time he saw Louis, he was so smitten during one of their first conversations he immediately offered to give him a ring someday which, looking back, makes him wonder how Louis did not just run away because it was _definitely_ too forward. They have talked about marriage in the past two years, obviously they have, since they both have quite the romantic soul.

So no. Proposing will not be a surprise. But he still wants the moment to be one. He wants to see Louis slowly realise what is happening before him, with rosy cheeks and a shy smile. He wants to see his eyes grow and twinkle under the sun as he looks at the ring for the first time. He wants Louis to hear that he is… absolutely devoted to them, that perhaps marriage is only a piece of paper but that the link between them is real and that he wants Louis to be his. His husband. His spouse. His partner for life. His _everything_.

Harry takes a shuddering breath, eyes focusing back on Liam beside him, still looking at him with curiosity but also… happiness in his eyes. As if he somehow knew everything that just happened in Harry’s head.

He wonders then if that is what Zayn felt, mere moments before proposing.

∘◦ ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐶ … ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐶ … ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐶ ◦∘

The thing is, never Harry would have thought he would one day be jealous of his own cat, really. Princess is very particular and for a very long time, she refused to be anywhere near Niall at all which was quite difficult with how small his previous flat was. The people at the shelter did warn him she would most likely only attach herself to one person after being abandoned a couple of times and that she hardly let volunteers there ever pet her but that trust would be more than difficult to build. In the end, it took Harry a few months and a lot of home-cooked meals for her to finally warm up to him properly and it took one or two years overall for Niall.

Louis, however? It took barely a second.

It comes in handy, sometimes, like the way Princess has gotten over her fear of car rides as long as she remains in Louis’ arms and other times it is like she is fighting Harry for Louis’ attention, lightly pawing his hand away whenever he goes to hug Louis when he finds the latter working on their couch with the white cat settled on his laps. Louis seemingly does not realise, or he is purposely acting oblivious, he is not quite sure.

It is probably a mix of both.

“Princess,” he says, watching as both Louis and Princess tilt their heads in his direction although not quite looking at him yet. He stifles a laugh — he would never get tired of seeing that. “What do you want for dinner tonight?”

Louis does not reply, lowering his gaze back on his screen. Harry doesn’t stop his laugh this time. “Lou, babe, I was talking to you, not the cat.”

He sees the way his boyfriend’s ears start to turn a little red as he pointedly does not move an inch. “Well, it’s still confusing. Outside… the bedroom… whatever, I’m working.”

Harry hums, tentatively approaching the pair, propping himself on the back of the couch and presenting his hand to Princess. She sniffs it briefly before head-butting it, asking for pets. Harry is allowed to be near Louis today, apparently.

“You’re not,” he remarks as he looks at Louis’ screen over his shoulder. “New Marvel show?”

It is Louis’ turn to hum noncommittally but does not elaborate. Harry wouldn’t have asked him to, anyway. The world of comics and Marvel is one he is only partially interested in compared to the passion Louis and Zayn can show at times — apparently, they even met because of a convention back in middle school as well. Harry is definitely more of a casual fan, one who only watches the big movie releases and does not care much about the deep lore behind it all.

“I was thinking,” he continues as he blindly starts petting Princess and his eyes catch Biscuit and Clifford napping together near the fireplace, “Zayn does some photography right?”

“Yeah, only recently though,” Louis responds distractingly, eyes riveted on the screen still. “Why?”

“Would he be willing to do us a favour?”

This time, the smaller man looks up at him with confusion in his eyes. “Us?”

“I think we should take a family picture with the pets, would be cute, don’t you think?” Harry smiles when he sees the way Louis tries to stop a smile from forming on his lips as he pauses his episode when Harry pronounced the word ‘family’. “That is if Biscuit can sit still.”

“You do know the type of photography he does is probably far from cute family pictures with the pets, right?” Louis reminds him, followed by a giggle. Harry will never get over that sound. “Are you not happy anymore with the pictures I took last November? It is a bit early to be sending personal Christmas cards though.”

Harry gasps dramatically. “You? Saying it’s too Christmas when I had to force you to finally take down the decorations _last month_?” Louis is definitely suspecting something — so he needs a little distraction.

“Oh fuck off!” Louis whines immediately followed by a huff as he crosses his arms petulantly. “The fairy lights were pretty I still stand by the fact we should have kept them.”

Distraction successful.

“Would have increased the electricity bill princess, we don’t need that after such a chaotic Christmas.”

“Such a responsible _daddy_ ,” Louis mocks him and Harry ignores the thrill going through his body. _Not the time_.

“Come on,” he taunts, words mumbled in Louis’ hair as he kisses the top of his head. He feels more than see the way Louis’ body seems to melt into the couch almost instantly after the gesture. “For me?”

“Fine,” is the grumbled answer he gets and it makes him smile a little. After all, he does know his _future fiancé_ is rather camera shy and in most pictures and videos they have, Louis is almost always absent because he is the one behind the camera and documenting small details of their life, now stored inside his computer whenever they feel like exploring them. Of course, Harry has dozens of candid pictures of Louis on his phone that the latter is actually unaware of up until he posts one on Instagram or something but a proper picture of their family…

He needs that, right now. Not so much for the proposal but for the sole purpose of being able to _show off to others_. Not that he already doesn’t do that, he just wants to be even more obnoxious about it.

∘◦ ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐶ … ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐶ … ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐶ ◦∘

Zayn accepts with no issue — he even sounded rather excited over the phone and told them he was free the next weekend, which prompted Louis to mention the pictures involved the pets and he would not be roped — hah — into taking suggestive pictures and Harry is pretty sure he heard Zayn reply with a dismissive “sure” implying he would not give up the idea without a proper fight.

So here they are now.

Harry watches as Louis purposely ignores Zayn fussing over him, trying to convince him to change out of his cat hoodie and leggings for something a little more dressed up, playing with Biscuit instead who is sitting in the pouch of the hoodie, easily entertained by Louis’ finger.

Harry, on his part, is watching from the bean bag chair Louis had installed in the corner of the room with Clifford laying across his laps as if he were still a puppy. The dog keeps moving every so often only to find a new position in Harry’s legs with his tail wagging constantly. Believe it or not, even after about three years since he’s met Louis, he still struggles a little to understand how you’re supposed to pet a dog compared to a cat but Clifford never seems to mind as long as he has some attention on him.

He is not sure where Princess is exactly in the house but he’s pretty sure she’s gonna show up once Louis calls for her, anyway. He gets startled when Clifford turns around again and licks his face suddenly.

“Hi bud,” he chuckles, wiping the wetness with his sleeves only prompting Clifford to lick him again, as if offended Harry just did that. “Excited, huh?”

A bark answers him. And then Clifford just jumps on him. Harry lands on the bean bag with an “oof” escaping his lips. Clifford has never quite lost the habit of jumping on people — Harry specifically — despite how many times he and Louis tried to teach him not to. To be fair, he at least does not do it to children and usually targets tall men. The labradoodle is actually quite gentle, just not when it comes to Harry since he knows is capable of catching him without any issue.

Unlike Princess who only really seeks Louis’ attention and avoids anyone else, Clifford thrives in the attention given by anybody. He loves when Louis points a camera his way, always posing patiently because he knows he will get treats and cuddles afterwards. Princess purposely turns away, unless Louis is the one holding the camera.

“What about the pose? It will be difficult to fit everyone on the frame unless you’re all laying on the floor,” Zayn’s voice brings Harry back to the present since the artist is now looking at him instead of fussing over Louis — who has put the hood on his head it seems.

“We could do that,” he answers as he mindlessly lifts Clifford up in order to stand up. He blinks and looks down at the happy pupper who doesn’t seem inclined to try to get away. “Or we could each hold a pet.”

“Obviously I’ll be holding Princess,” Louis says and just as the words come out of his mouth, as expected, the white cat runs in, immediately rubbing herself on his legs. He giggles, picking her up and kissing her head immediately. “Good girl.”

“What about Biscuit? He is quite hidden in that pouch,” Zayn asks.

“He likes Harry’s hair, put him on his head,” Louis answers so quickly, he probably thought of this situation before.

So, as Harry approaches, Zayn grabs the small cat and props him on Harry’s head. Well, Harry has to lean down a little since the man was struggling a little with his arms outstretched yet refusing to go on his tiptoes and with Biscuit refusing to just jump by himself. Louis giggles and Harry wants to follow but keeps his mouth shut when he gets Zayn’s glare thrown his way.

“Back to back you two and just smile at the camera, I’ll do the rest of the job,” Zayn explains very briefly before running to get his camera.

For a moment, they think everything will be alright but then the first flash of the camera sets Biscuit off.

Harry cannot help but laugh a little as he sees on the corner of his eyes Biscuit trying to paw at the ears of Louis’ hoodie, feeling his tail wagging gently in his hair, grazing — tickling, but Harry is not the ticklish kind — the back of his neck. Louis does not seem to realise as Princess continues to purr and rub her face against his, making him gently giggle. Harry readjusts carefully Clifford in his arms who is surprisingly still and calm, tongue out and tail gently bumping against his legs in excitement.

“You all are really cute but I can’t get a clear picture,” Zayn says behind the camera after a few moments. “Of Biscuit, mostly.”

Almost immediately, the small orange cat slips from Harry’s head to land on Louis’ instead. The latter yelps, managing to grab him with the hand that was previously petting Princess. The female cat almost looks like she is glaring now at the meowing orange fluff finding refuge on Louis’ shoulder.

And then keeps kneading the crook of Louis’ neck.

“I feel like he’s gonna slip again,” Louis comments as he drops a small kiss on the cat’s head.

“He really can’t keep still,” Zayn quips as he approaches, grabbing Biscuit and then putting him on Harry’s shoulder instead although with a little offended meow from the loud tabby. “Don’t complain you have more space there,” the socialist chastises, and surprisingly, the cat calms down immediately, curling up.

“Did you just call my shoulders small?” Louis groans.

“I did,” his friend confirms at the same time Harry nods and answers with a “he’s right.” Louis hides his pout in Princess’ fur.

The rest of the photoshoot is just as chaotic.

Harry whines a little — although he will forever deny it — when Louis turns Zayn down again when the latter offers to take more suggestive pictures for them. The pout goes away when Louis takes his own camera out of a drawer and faces Harry with a sweet smile.

“We can have some fun for ourselves without Zayn, can we?”

Harry wastes no time as he grabs Louis’ wrist and runs for their bedroom before any of their pet could get in as well.

∘◦ ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐶ … ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐶ … ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐶ ◦∘

On the day of the hike, Louis bundles Princess and Biscuit up in a big fluffy blanket on his laps while Harry drives. They usually put them in crates, just in case, but it is a rather short drive and Princess wouldn’t stop screaming until she was held by Louis and Biscuit just mimicked her, really. Clifford is in the back with his own bed and quite used to car rides so he simply lays there without a protest. Every once a while, though, mostly when the car slows down, he lifts his head over the seats, asking for some pets and Louis gladly indulges him.

They arrive at the hiking spot as the sun is high up in the sky. The weather is quite warm, although not scorching hot like summer. Louis still touches the ground with the palm of his hand to make sure it is not too hot for the cats’ paws — and for Clifford too although they worry less about him, truly — before he lets the both of them down.

“Should we set up the picnic by the lake? Are we sure Biscuit won’t run off for a swim?” Louis asks as they start walking.

“I think you worry about the wrong pet,” Harry replies as he looks down at Clifford happily trotting ahead while Princess and Biscuit struggle to keep up. “But yes.”

“I don’t think I am,” Louis tuts as Biscuit suddenly sprints forward, easily slipping in between Clifford’s paws and taking the lead. “See?”

“He’s just excited,” Harry dismisses then looks at Louis’ backpack. “You did bring towels, though, right?”

Louis’ laugh is an answer enough. Harry reaches down to hold his hand and drop a kiss on the back of it. Louis smiles widely although he turns his head away so Harry would not be able to properly see. So Harry grabs his chin again and kisses him square on the lips.

“My shy little love, no need to hide,” he teases gently, earning a groan and a hand pushing his face away.

“Stop that.”

They have to run a bit to catch up with their animals.

It is the middle of the week so the trail is mostly empty, only trees, birds and the sun surrounding them as they walk hand in hand and let the animals run around. They do stop after a while — Harry is not sure how much time has passed, getting lost in the scenery and Louis’ words — as they come across a river, because Biscuit looks particularly interested in it, pawing at the water. Harry has taught him how to swim in the bathtub while he was a kitten, getting him accustomed to the water, which was a lot easier than when he tried to do so with Princess since she already was a full-grown cat. And yet that did not stop her from often wanting to jump into a pond, at times.

“I think he already wants to go for a swim,” Harry says as he crouches down next to Biscuit and observes the small stream of water. “It isn’t deep.” As he says the words, Princess rubs herself against his legs before she daintily crosses the river, paws skipping over the rocks forming an oh so little path across the water.

“Well then,” Louis answers, effortlessly jumping over the stream as well with Clifford following him in a similar fashion, “let him swim back to me.” Princess meows then, asking to be picked up so Louis does just that, ruffling her fur and getting rid of a few twigs stuck in there.

Biscuit loves water, but he is always a little hesitant to jump in first without anyone prompting him. So Harry gently scoops him up and then positions him over the water. Almost immediately, the small cat starts moving his legs, ready to swim. He chuckles as he lowers his hand and watches as his orange fur floats and harness helps him float as he makes his way across in no time, shaking the water away when he gets out before running into Louis’ legs, also asking to be picked up.

Louis lets Princess rest on Clifford’s back as he takes a still slightly wet Biscuit in his arms. Clifford grunts as she starts to knead his back before she simply lays down, burying her face in his curls. The dog seems to completely freeze then, afraid any movement would make his sister cat fall.

“He’s slightly trembling,” Louis observes as he cuddles the cat closer to bring him more warmth, “Harry, can you take a blanket out of my bag?”

So it is Harry’s turn to jump over the water and quickly retrieve one of the small heated blankets Louis apparently managed to stuff in his bag. He then bundles Biscuit up like a burrito, earning pleased purrs from him.

“I guess that is enough hiking for him, not so bad for a first one mm?” Louis comments, gently scratching Biscuit’s snout then forehead. The tiny animal sneezes but then licks his finger. “Aw.”

“I think Clifford wants to run for a bit more,” Harry points out as he looks down at the labradoodle just walking in circles around them although careful to keep his pace steady with Princess on his back. He cannot shake the feeling they are talking about children. “We should find a place where to set up our picnic and then I’ll run with Cliff.” Mostly, he needs a little more time to… calm his nerves, knowing what will happen once they sit down to eat. Besides, while Biscuit and Princess both seem worn out, Clifford is still full of built-up energy according to his agitated tail and to make sure his proposal goes smoothly, he’d rather make sure Clifford too is a little bit tired so he doesn’t interrupt at a crucial moment.

Louis hums. “The lake is not too far, I believe.”

The sun is also slowly but surely going down, a subtle golden hue replacing little by little the blue sky. It is still rather warm, hint of a pleasant spring ahead. A new cycle… a new beginning.

Harry wants to propose under the stars but he will probably have to settle for the sunset. Perhaps it fits better, actually, he thinks as he looks at Louis’ warm-toned skin.

Perhaps the world somehow knows better.

Louis shoos him away as soon as they find the perfect spot by the nearby lake, taking his bag off his shoulders and Biscuit off his arms for him. Harry insists for about ten seconds he wants to help lay down the picnic blanket and everything else before Clifford tugs on the leash and just leads them away.

Clifford barks happily when Harry finally starts to run alongside him, trees becoming a blurry mess to his eyes. Except he forgot about endurance and quickly finds himself out of breath as they reach a small hill. He slows down and, as if perfectly tuned with him, Clifford stops altogether, mouth wide open and panting as he looks up at his co-owner.

With a hand on his heart, Harry deeply breathes in. God, he’s still nervous. Extremely nervous. His heart is pounding, not from the run, but from excitement and all the built-up jitters inside of him.

Today is the day.

 _Shit_ , why did he decide on a hike somewhere they barely have any signal so he can’t call Niall or Liam to let it all out in order to avoid looking like a mess when he goes back to Louis. The ring! It’s in his bag — hidden in one of the inside pockets so hopefully, Louis doesn’t see it. Fuck he needs to go back immediately, just in case, screw being calm, this might as well be as authentic as it can be.

He looks down at Clifford who tilts his head in confusion, probably wondering why they have been just standing there for the last minute or so after such a sudden and energetic run.

“Let’s go back to Louis, shall we?” he chuckles, after patting the dog’s head. “I’m sure you’re hungry too.” They have been gone for barely ten minutes, probably, but it is better than nothing.

Hearing Louis’ name sets Clifford off though as he immediately turns around and runs back the way they came from without additional instructions. Harry stops himself from groaning — he’s just gonna jog to catch up.

He ends up simply walking halfway through the path as the sunset starts to filter through the trees’ foliage, creating warm halos on the ground. Harry finds Louis laying in one of them, spread out on the picnic blanket but making sure to not knock over the food, Princess and Biscuit resting on his tummy. Three cats enjoying the last rays of sun of the day, really. Clifford sits idly by his feet and Harry smiles.

Upon closer observation, Louis’ eyes are closed as well. Careful to not make any sound, Harry walks up to him then positions himself above Louis’ figure, elbows framing his boyfriend’s head, careful to not squish the cats who don’t even move. Princess just lets out a small chirp which is enough to make Louis frown then open his eyes, not even startling upon having Harry’s face right there.

“Hey there, handsome,” he grins.

“Enjoying the sun?” Harry asks, and kind of wants to slap himself because that was a stupid question and he is pretty sure his voice wavered a little.

“Well, you’re kind of in my way now, so no.”

“R-Right.”

Louis raises an eyebrow then, a bemused smile now on his lips. Harry gulps as discreetly as possible. Louis has always been good at reading people, at reading him. So much for trying to be confident.

“What’s wrong?” Louis asks.

“Nothing, nothing, I’m just hungry,” Harry answers, dropping a quick kiss on Louis’ lips before he pulls back. “We should—”

“I saw the ring.”

Harry completely freezes then. Louis props himself on his elbows with a small grunt, trying to sit up as much as he could with both the cats refusing to move from his stomach. They stare at each other for a couple of seconds before Harry takes a deep breath in and opens his mouth—

“Yes.” Only for Louis to beat him to it again.

He gapes, heart fluttering seeing Louis’ lovely smile and gentle eyes glistening in the sunset’s light.

“I didn’t even properly propose yet!” Harry protests nonetheless, earning a light chuckle.

“Do you need to? I mean you knew I’d say yes.”

Only then does Harry notice something shining on Louis’ hand as the latter manages to scoop both Princess and Biscuit in his arms so he can sit up and cross his legs for the cats to settle in instead.

“Are you already _wearing it_?” Harry crawls back closer, grabbing Louis’ left hand and inspecting the ring there. The sterling silver band and tear-shaped sapphire, the perfect shade to match Louis’ blue eyes, stands there, shining under the sun. It fits so perfectly, like he’s been imagining for months, that he finds himself mesmerised by it. If you asked him, he would never describe himself as possessive — or at least _overly_ possessive — but seeing the tiny piece of jewellery on Louis’ finger, clearly showing to the rest of the world that he is _taken_ brings him such an immense joy, his heart feels like exploding.

He feels his _fiancé’s_ hand twitch in his so he brings it to his lips, kissing his knuckles. A lovely shade of pink takes over Louis’ cheeks at the gesture. “How did you even find it?”

Louis chuckles weakly, shy eyes not meeting his, “Biscuit kept jumping in the bag and pawing at the back of it so Princess took over and made a tiny tear and then I saw the box.” He lets out a breathy laugh as he slowly looks back up at Harry. “I’m sorry, I got a little excited as soon as I saw it and you know I can’t fake a surprise and I didn’t want to embarrass you because surely you had something planned although of course you’d be the one to just leave the ring unattended where I could have easily found it but— you can still do the whole proposing thing though! If… if you want of course.”

Harry smiles, squeezing Louis’ hand once as he wills his heart to calm down. His boy is so adorable, how did he even get so lucky? He did not have a concrete speech written down or formulated in his head but all of a sudden, a million words seem to dance in his mind.

“You also love hearing how much I love you, don’t you?”

Louis shrugs with a small giggle. “Guilty!”

Harry shakes his head in disbelief as he intertwines their fingers together.

“I actually… did not plan that well so bear with me, yeah? Just know I am absolutely devoted to y—”

“I think you mean hopelessly,” Louis interrupts suddenly. Harry blinks.

“Huh?”

“The song? From Grease? _Hopelessly devoted to you_ ,” Louis sings out the last part and Harry would smile at his lovely voice if he wasn’t slightly annoyed right now. “If you’re proposing to me at least use my favourite movie right. You know, I can’t believe they tried to pass off those thirty-year-olds something for teena—”

Harry groans, shushing Louis with a finger in front of his lips. “Didn’t you just say I could propose like I wanted to? So shut up and let me do that, princess.”

He feels Louis smile against his finger and surprisingly enough, the man does shut up, taking a deep breath as he bows his head and gestures _go on_ with his free hand while the other squeezes gently Harry’s.

“As I was saying,” Harry starts up again as he tucks an invisible strand of hair behind his ear — a force of habit, really, “know I am _absolutely_ devoted to you, no, not hopelessly because that is actually a sad song and our story is far from sad, alright?” He hears Louis chuckle but does not say anything else, back straight and looking at him with big, expectant eyes.

Princess and Biscuit have also turned around in Louis’ laps to face Harry, curious. Somehow he can also feel Clifford paying attention as well, noticing from the corner of his eyes a black blur slowly making its way on their side, refusing to be left alone as if sensing something important was happening.

“Sometimes, it feels like I could write you a thousand love songs, yet, as soon as I look at you, and get lost in your existence, I lose my words. So I pour my feelings into my cooking or whenever I get to hold you close.” He sighs lovingly, looking down at the ring on Louis’ finger again. “I find that words often fail to really represent or… give justice to what I feel for you or to describe _us_. Boyfriend had started to sound childish. Partner felt too impersonal. Future husband, _spouse_ , sounds perfect to me now although… what you really are to me, is _mine_ , as much as I am yours. Utterly, completely and absolutely yours. If you ask me we have already been married for at least two years now, I mean we basically have kids, we just don’t have a joint bank account but—”

He stops when Louis laughs so loud, he ends up hiding his smile behind his hand. Harry grabs it, pulling it away only to notice tears have started to fall down Louis’ cheeks. Happy tears, though, so he doesn’t worry and simply wipes the wetness away, smiling at the way Louis leans into the touch. His boy has always been emotional.

“So, Louis William Tomlinson, will you marry me?”

A meow answers him.

They both startle as Princess starts properly yelling at Harry, jumping from Louis’ laps to head-butt Harry’s legs instead. Biscuit, ever so the follower, starts meowing as well, although he was looking at Louis instead with confusion. Harry distractedly pets his cat although she does not stop talking to him.

And then Clifford also joins in, jumping in between them and asking attention as well.

“What the fuck?” Harry says out loud.

“I think they’re hungry and got tired of us just sitting there and talking,” Louis laughs, patting Clifford’s back and belly when the dog flops down next to him.

“Well, they sure chose the perfect timing,” Harry deadpans as he picks Princess up and only then does she finally stop meowing their ears off, prompting Biscuit to stop as well.

Louis hums. “They always do, don’t they.”

Harry does not need to get reminded, really. He stands up then, Princess now standing on his shoulders. He is quite hungry as well, and they should probably hurry so they do not go back home too late, now that he thinks about it.

Then, as he bends down to take the animals’ foods out, he feels Louis drape himself over his back and forcing Princess to jump off. Two arms wrap around his neck and the overwhelming scent of vanilla and baby powder grace his nose as Louis nuzzles his cheek.

“A million times yes, by the way,” his fiancé whispers in his ear. “I love you.”

Harry turns his head so their lips can meet. “I love you too.”

“We should get married in your restaurant!” Louis gushes then, his whole weight on Harry’s back as he shares his excitement. “Although, my family is a little too big…”

“I’m sure we can fit all guests at the new location,” Harry muses.

“But the first _Smitten_ has a little more significance for us.” He can somehow hear the pout in Louis’ voice.

“We’ll figure it out, princess.”

They startle, yet again, when Princess meows again next to them, now pawing at the basket containing what she knows to be her food.

Louis immediately pulls away with a small chuckle while Harry sighs lovingly.

That is his life now, and he would not have it any other way.

Well, perhaps he would not mind adding possible future children in it but, that is a discussion for another day. For now, he is going to enjoy a nice picnic with his fiancé as they watch the sunset turn into starlight.

**Author's Note:**

> Listen...... Maybe there will be a part 3 someday WHO KNOWS this fic was not even planned at first yet here she is :') so open ending it is.  
> I wonder if you can see how much my writing has evolved since that first part. I wouldn't say I'm not proud of it anymore but I do grimace a little at some scenes reading back haha. But anyway, hope I could provide some fluff in these trying times!
> 
> Thank you for reading, dear, may our paths meet again x


End file.
